Fear not

Today, on this 9th Sunday after Trinity, we hear a very familiar story from the Old Testament or the First Testament. A family story from the Hebrew Scriptures directly out of the book of Genesis. And the book of Genesis is above all a family story. We know from our own experience about all the good and bad things that happens between human beings, especially among friends and family. Joseph’s brother are jealous of Joseph, call him a dreamer and want to get rid of him. Negative emotions like jealousy, hate and fear happen a lot in our relationships with others, which causes bad things to happen. It happens to you and me as well. Most likely they do not throw us in a pit literally or sell us for a few bucks. But symbolically the might. It might be your family, friend, collegues or more worse….your brothers and sisters in Christ that turn their backs on you. The biggest underlying cause for this behaviour is fear. Fear paralyzes and let us do awful thing. Karl Barth wrote that fear is “is the anticipation of a supposedly certain defeat.” This is what rules the emotions of Joseph’s brothers., who fear and hate their brother’s favored status. 

This is also what takes over the hearts of Jesus’ disciples when they see him walking toward them on the water. And this is how it is with us. There is so much we come to fear over the course of a lifetime. So much that makes us frightful. So much daily battles against our insecurities. Who of us did not fear dark as a child? We feared that something in the darkness would come for us. Some fears takes us still over like we were still children. The fear of certain defeat in relationships affects us. The fear of certain defeat in family relationships keeps us from confronting people or speaking our heart. The fear of failing in a job burdens us in our work...and so on. These fears prevent us from growing as a person. These fear have a big impact on our lives.  Other fears have an external source but we all know fear. Fear is the opposite of love and courage and comes from Gods enemy. When we fear it is harder to love, to have hope, trust and courage. For instance when the disciples see Jesus walking toward them they are frightened as little children. They think he is a ghost or something. Just like when you were a kid and there is someone under your bed. Or when you see something in your room you think it is a ghost. And be honest, you cannot really blame the disciples for their fear can you? After all, walking on the water is merely impossible isn't it?

Walking on the water is such a powerful thing. I coming from a nation that battles with water for centuries. Water in itself is a great threat to us in general. We do a lot of water management to be ahead of things but it is always challenging. It can be overwhelming and if we are not careful it can overcome us.  The phrase “walking on water” is even used for someone that goes “above and beyond”. We often hear today's Gospel narrative and don’t realize that it is about us as well. The question that rises is: “what would I do?” If Christ would call you in the midst on a storm on the Lake of the Ozarks,  the Missouri River or any other lake or river....what would you do? Just imagine the water and waves coming way up high. And then Christ calls you: “come on my friend walk to me over the water?” Would you trust Him that he would save you? It is not an unreasonable question. We have often been in these situations. Maybe not literally but surely symbolically, when the waters of the chaos hit our life. When disaster, sickness, depression or spiritual tiredness come along. But the story is not only applicable for us. It would be a good learning story for first-century Jewish Christians like Matthew’s community as well. It makes clear that Jesus takes on God’s role through history with the Jewish people. The Lord overcomes the danger of the water.  This represents all the places where in Hebrew scripture God rules over the terrifying waters. God overcomes the waters of Creation, God saves the righteous Noah from the flood and leads the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt through the Red Sea. Over and over again, God triumphs over the water.

When Jesus says: “it is I”,” he is using the Greek phrase, ego eimi, or, “I AM.” He is declaring his identity and authority over the elements. With other words he says that he is acting as that same God. Jesus is saying that he is the God who triumphs over the waters of chaos. That is the scary part for his disciples. It is very unlikely that strong fishermen would have been afraid of a storm. They were used to storms. And we can see that when we read carefully. The storm arises in the evening, but Jesus approaches them. not until the morning. So they must have been out in the storm all night. It is not until Jesus shows up that they are afraid. They become fearful when they see something weird on the water. What is it? They probably thought by themselves: what is it? Is it a human being, is it a ghost or is it a demon? They fear that all the chaos and evil that resides in the water has come to claim their lives. Only in Matthew’s narrative Peter asks to be with Jesus on the water. He might have thought there was not much to fear of on the water, rather then staying in the boat. Then the story reveals the first steps, the fear and Christ saving Peter out of the water. The story tells us clearly that God is God and we are not. It is only God that can control the water…who walks on water. But still God invites us to be a part of that divine power.  Jesus makes clear to Peter that he could have done this, if he would not have doubted. Doubt is a very strong emotion as we know, opposite from trust. Today, you and I might face the waters of the chaos. Maybe in the Church, maybe in our relationships, maybe in sickness or maybe in the world in general. Do we feel that God cannot save us from that. Do we think it too much for God to save us from Covid 19? Do the deep water fear us?

Today we are reminded of us baptism. You are baptized to be courageous to do what the Lord has commanded you to do. And sometimes that is to step on the stormy and deep waters. And in the times that we experience that the waters of the chaos overwhelms us we see someone approaching us on the waters. Don’t be afraid. Because what you see coming towards you is your lifeguard who walks on water. He is coming to you and telling you: “You of little faith, don’t doubt no more”. He is telling you: “Yes you very likely messed up, but I got you back, I’ll catch you when you fall and feel like drowning”. That is Our Lord and Saviour! We only have to take his hand and let him catch us.  Amen.